The Hobbit (per the movie), Bilbo is so rapt in his comfortable life that he did not know there was so much more to the world, and ultimately, to himself. He would never have discovered this had he not been coerced into The Adventure by Gandalf.

More often than not, we become consumed by our pasts. We tell ourselves that we have learnt from our ‘mistakes’ and that we will alter our behaviours and lives accordingly so as not to repeat said ‘mistakes’ again. In actuality, most of us do not actively live this way.

We end up stereotyping – people, situations, jobs. We inevitably close ourselves off, without always realising this is the case. We stop embracing the little things that are good that happen every day – the friend and colleague who always remembers your stories, the coffee/tea breaks, after-work beers, water cooler social chats that make us smile. Instead, the end of the day is typically a whinge-fest about what was bad as opposed to what was good.

We stop living. We stop living in the moment. We stop going with the flow. We stop accepting the good things that happen as they come. We turn all that is good into something with an ulterior motive.

No matter how tough life gets for us, we all have much to be thankful for and to smile about. We all have a Gandalf in our lives, our strongholds that are there for us as mentors in our careers, as our best friends, as our buddies, our North Stars.

This coming new year is no different from any other new year. You, me, them, WE, can live a little differently. Let us not fear living. Let us not fear accepting the things that are good that come from others. Let us not fear that we may fall. Let us not fear that we may fail.